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The Black Clown Production PhotoThe cast of The Black Clown.Photo: Maggie Hall.

Presented by American Repertory Theater
Adapted from Langston Hughes’ poemAdapted by Davóne Tines and Michael Schachter
Music by Michael SchachterChoreographed by Chanel DaSilvaDirected by Zack WinokurMusic Direction by Jaret LandonTrumpets by Dave Adewumi and Robyn SmithKeyboards played by Jaret Landon and Bethany AikinReeds by Rajiv Halim, Isaiah Johnson, and Jason Marshall

(Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA) In The Black Clown program, the A.R.T. Artistic Director wrote how “Langston Hughes drew deeply on the traditions of African American music,” and Hughes would have been pleased with this production.

The pit orchestra breathed life into spirituals and added rhythmic profundity to operatic adaptations of Hughes’ poems. Keyboards were played by Jaret Landon, a Chicago-based composer who was the show’s Music Director, and Bethany Aiken, who studied Music History at Oberlin College. A theater experience fusing vaudeville, gospel, and jazz, Black Clown brought Langston Hughes’ verse to life onstage. Every musician in this production – from the trumpet players, to the actors who themselves are acclaimed singers – every musician, per their participation in this production, paid respect both to Hughes and to the African American music at the heart of Hughes’ art.Continue reading →